Exploration of a topic (to be determined) not covered by the standard curriculum but of interest to faculty and students in a particular semester.

Introduction to the helicopter; hover- and vertical-flight analysis; autorotation and vertical descent; blade motion and rotor control; aerodynamics of forward flight.

Inviscid and viscous hypersonic fluid dynamics with and without high temperature effects. Approximate and exact methods for analyzing hypersonic flows. Elements of statistical thermodynamics, kinetic theory, and nonequilibrium gas dynamics. Experimental methods.

Two-body orbital mechanics, orbits and trajectories, interplanetary transfers, vehicle and booster performance.

Exploration of a topic (to be determined) not covered by the standard curriculum but of interest to faculty and students in a particular semester.

Analytical techniques, including dyadic operators for rotational motion, Lambert's theorem and its use in spacecraft mission analysis computer programs, and Bierman's factorized estimation board.

Stability; spacecraft orbital dynamics and control; Lagrange points; attitude representations like rotation matrix, Euler angles, and Euler parameters; attitude kinematics; attitude determination (Wahba¿s problem); attitude dynamics; inertia tensor; gravity gradient torque; attitude stabilization and control.

Static aeroelasticity, unsteady aerodynamics of airfoils and wings, lifting surface flutter, panel flutter, and dynamic response including modal techniques.

Structural problems not amenable to elementary analysis, such as swept and delta wings, stresses around cutouts, shear lag, torsion with restrained warping, general instability of stiffened shells, thermal stresses. Matrix and energy methods.

Exploration of a problem, or problems, in depth. Individual independent study upon a plan submitted by the student. Admission by consent of supervising instructor(s) and the department.

Exploration of a topic (to be determined) not covered by the standard curriculum but of interest to faculty and students in a particular semester.

Classification, physical properties of hypersonic flows. Thickness and structure of shock fronts. Real gas effects, relaxation phenomena. Compressible viscous boundary layer flows. Shock layer flows. Two-layer Newtonian flow models. Aerodynamic applications. Hypersonic flow generation, simulation.

Exploration of a topic (to be determined) not covered by the standard curriculum but of interest to faculty and students in a particular semester.

Exploration of a problem, or problems, in depth. Individual independent study upon a plan submitted by the student. Admission by consent of supervising instructor(s) and the department.